News US FTC Officially Drops Antitrust Complaints Against Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Microsoft president Brad Smith took to social media to celebrate the fact that the FTC has dropped its appeals against Microsoft. Posted By Joelle Daniels | On 26th, May. 2025 The US Federal Trade Commission has officially dropped its appeals for an antitrust case against Microsoft for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard entirely. The FTC released a statement, saying that at this point, public interest is “best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case.” “Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the complaint in this matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed,” said the FTC in an order announcing the dismissal of the governing body’s complaint. Microsoft president Brad Smith took to social media platform X to praise the decision. “Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C.,” wrote Smith. “We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement.” The FTC complaint being dropped comes a few weeks after its appeal for a denied injunction from 2023 also getting denied by the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals. The court stated that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was not violating US antitrust laws, with Judge Daniel P. Collins writing that the FTC hadn’t shown the “likelihood of success on the merits as to any of its theories,” with regards to the case. Back when the FTC had first set out to fight Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of its core arguments was that the company would use its position in the industry to dominate the console market by releasing games exclusively on its own platforms. This led to Microsoft inking deals with both Sony and Nintendo to ensure that major franchises like Call of Duty wouldn’t be withheld from other consoles. Collins also pointed out that, despite being industry practice to have exclusive games in order to push console hardware sales, Microsoft is currently in the weakest spot behind Sony and Nintendo when it comes to having exclusives of its own. “All major manufacturers have engaged in this practice,” Collins wrote, continuing that competitors like Sony and Nintendo have “both have significantly higher number of exclusive games on their platform thandoes.” Back in 2023, the original injunction was denied at the time because the Judge at the time noted that Microsoft’s push into cloud gaming on various platforms dispelled the idea that Activision Blizzard games being “exclusive” to Xbox in some way would harm competitors in the gaming market. This now-dropped case by the FTC was the last thing plaguing Microsoft when it came to potential antitrust issues with regards to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The deal has otherwise been considered complete since October 2023, however, with Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer welcoming the new studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner. Tagged With: Elden Ring: Nightreign Publisher:Bandai Namco Developer:FromSoftware Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PCView More Borderlands 4 Publisher:2K Developer:Gearbox Entertainment Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PCView More Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Publisher:Sony Developer:Kojima Productions Platforms:PS5View More Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out! US FTC Officially Drops Antitrust Complaints Against Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Microsoft president Brad Smith took to social media to celebrate the fact that the FTC has dropped its appeals... PS5 Pro’s PSSR Was So Good, F1 25 Used Double Resolution Ray-Traced Reflections F1 25 producer Si Lumb has revealed the studio's love for Sony's PSSR, and how it allowed the studio to push t... F1 25 PS5 Pro Enhancements Include Quality, Performance, and 8K Resolution Modes Resolution Mode runs in 8K and 60 Hz while offering ray traced dynamic diffuse global illumination while racin... Tekken 8 Adds Armor King in Season 2 This Fall As a series regular, debuting in 1994, the legendary luchadore returns for another round as the third DLC char... F1 25 Interview – Path Tracing, LiDAR Scanning, My Team Mode, and More Leading up to the upcoming launch of F1 racing game F1 25, Codemasters was kind enough to answer a few of our ... JDM: Japanese Drift Master Review – Toothless Roads The thrill of drifting to a faux-Initial D soundtrack is ultimately let down by iffy mission design and a bori... View More #ftc #officially #drops #antitrust #complaints